1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cleaning the surfaces of information storage disks and more particularly to cleaning disks in protective disk holding cassettes with a reciprocating motion of the cleaning head moving radially across the disk surface on both sides of the disk simultaneously while the disk rotates about its axis.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past when disks became dirty they had to be manually cleaned. The protective door of the cassette would be held open and the disk placed on a spindle for rotating the disk to expose the area to be cleaned while a person holding a cleaning cloth rubbed the cloth on the exposed disk surface. This is a tedious job requiring hours of repetitive motion and has many drawbacks. It is slow, it only cleans one side of a disk at a time, there is no uniformity of the pressure on the disk with a hand held cloth, the spaces exposed are not uniformly cleaned, and potential for missing portions of the disk is high since the advancement of the disk to expose the surface to be cleaned is not coordinated with the cleaning strokes applied, the cleaning cloth is easily contaminated by handling the cloth, the cloth is not efficiently used with new portions of clean cloth on the surface of the disk. It takes a long time to clean the disk and the area exposed to cleaning is not uniformly controlled. The wiping motion of the cloth should be uniform and humans tend to get tired and sloppy. Humans need to take breaks and are slow compared to machines. Further humans suffer health risks from repetitive motions.
There are disk cleaning machines for specified sizes and shapes of cassettes and disks but no machines that will universally clean any disk in any cassette.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,332 shows a Disc Cleaning device for one size, shape and style of cassette and disk contained therein which cleans one side of the disk at a time by a rotating cylinder of cleaning cloth engaging a rotating disk. The rotating disk is tangential to the grooves or tracks in the disk which is not a preferred method of cleaning. Further the cylinder of cloth is constantly reused tending to get dirtier over time. The pressure of the cloth on the disk is not adjustable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,526 shows a radially reciprocating cleaning device for compact disks which do not have cassette covers. The wiping member is not a cloth that is replaceable and it only cleans one side of the disk at a time. The pressure of the cloth on the disk is not adjustable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,146 shows a disc Cleaning device having a spool of cleaning cloth with a variable tension for contacting the surface of a disk. The cloth can be advanced to expose a clean portion of cloth when needed however the cleaning arm only extends on one side of the disc.
It is desirable to have a universal disk cleaning machine for cleaning any size disk, no matter what cassette it is placed in. The cleaning should be with a radially reciprocating arm to clean radially across the tracks or grooves in the disk. The cleaning should have uniform pressure on the disk and should clean on both sides of the disk at the same time. The cleaning cloth should be advanceable so that clean cloth can be applied to the disks as required. The disk cleaning machine should be easily transportable light weight easy to set up,easy to use, and provide uniform cleaning of surfaces quickly and efficiently.
The invention relates to a portable disk cleaning machine which can be quickly set up to clean and inspect any size disks in any type of cassette. The device has a plurality of attachments for holding any size disk at the proper height for engaging the cleaning heads of the device on both sides of the disk, for cleaning both sides simultaneously with even pressure on the cleaning cloth to the disk surface. The disk is rotated in combination with reciprocating motion of the cleaning arm to move the cleaning cloth to ensure that every portion of the disk is cleaned uniformly. The cleaning cloth is kept pristine by advancing clean cloth on spools located on the cleaning arm.
The rotation rate of the disk, the reciprocation rate of the cleaning arm, and the pressure of the cleaning cloth on the disk are all adjustable to ensure cleaning of all portions of both sides of the disk with the desired pressure simultaneously.
An inspection station is provided adjacent the cleaning device for inspecting the disks for cleanliness and for flaws such as scratches.
It is an object of the invention to provide a disk cleaning machine for all sizes of disks contained in any style of disk holding cassette.
It is an object of the invention to increase disk cleaning production rates.
It is an object of the invention to efficiently clean disks.
It is an object of the invention to clean the entire surface of the all disks with uniform quality.
It is an object of the invention to clean the entire surface of the all disks with a uniform pressure of cleaning cloths on the disks.
It is an object of the invention to clean the entire surface of the all disks with a uniform disk turning speed.
It is an object of the invention to clean the disk radially, not circumferentially.
It is an object of the invention to provide cleaning cloth on spools to keep the cloth clean and provide new cloth by advancing the spools when needed to clean a disk.
It is an object of the invention to make efficient use of the cleaning cloth which is very expensive.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate hand contact with the cleaning cloth to prevent contamination.
It is an object of the invention to increase performance of computer systems by having cleaned disks.
It is an object of the invention to provide a top cleaning arm and a bottom cleaning arm with independently adjustable pressures of cloth contact on a disk.
It is an object of the invention to clean both sides of disk at once.
It is an object of the invention to be able to adjust the height of each style of disk to a uniform height to function in conjunction with the cleaning arms.
It is an object of the invention to allow the cleaning arms to float up and down on the surface of the disk to follow disk warps and wobbles with even pressure on the cleaning cloth.
It is an object of the invention to be compact and lightweight such that it is easy to transport the cleaning device as carry-on luggage in airplanes.
It is an object of the invention to provide a durable, easy to set-up, and quickly usable cleaning device that is not sensitive to temperature variations.
It is an object of the invention to provide a disk cleaning device with variable settings for parameters, including disk rotation speed, radial stroke length, radial stroke frequency, length of cleaning time, number of cleaning rotations of the disk, disk height, independent cleaning arm tension and torque tension.